While the Boston Red Sox are making one last push to remain relevant in the playoff picture — they've won 11 of their last 13 games and have a 32-31 record under Chad Tracy — it's clear that questions need to be asked about the team's future when it comes to the coaching staff. Tracy has done an admirable job keeping this injury-plagued team afloat, though he hasn't inspired the kind of turnaround some hoped for when he took over for Alex Cora.
What kind of turnaround are we talking about? Well, how about the one Don Mattingly has engineered in Philadelphia? He's dragged a hapless, 9-19 Phillies squad back into the NL East race with a 42-22 performance after replacing Rob Thomson. However, the 65-year-old has made it clear that he doesn't intend to hold onto the job for long.
That means the Phillies should be a frontrunner to scoop Cora up in the offseason, even after he rejected their offer back in April. According to Bob Nightengale, they figure to be joined in those Cora sweepstakes by the New York Mets, who are fresh off firing their own skipper, Carlos Mendoza.
Is that the ultiamte fate awaiting the former Red Sox manager? Or could another team come in and spice things up?
Alex Cora will be heavily pursued in offseason, though Phillies have the sales pitch to beat
Nightengale said that the industry considers the Phillies as the favorites to land Cora right now, both because they're better suited to be a win-now team and also because of the coach's existing relationship with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski. Not that Red Sox fans need reminding, but those two won the 2018 World Series in Boston and are known to have a strong bond.
The Mets will surely make a high-priced bid to lure him to New York, though their circus might not be terribly appealing after Cora just had to put up with everything that goes into babysitting Craig Breslow. Plus, they've been linked to Carlos Beltran repeatedly since firing Mendoza, another member of that infamous 2017 Houston Astros squad.
Those are the current managerial openings, though plenty of other teams figure to make a change at the end of the season prior to the lockout. The Los Angeles Angels just overhauled their front office and will likely want a more experienced skipper to replace Kurt Suzuki. The Detroit Tigers have been wildly disappointing and may part ways with A.J. Hinch now that they know Tarik Skubal's final year in town is being wasted. Perhaps a trip back to the West Coast could be in order if the San Francisco Giants decide that the Tony Vitello experiment has failed.
The real question will be if anyone can make a more enticing pitch that Dombrowski and the Phillies. Whoever does land him will be getting one of the best managers in baseball, no matter what his final year in Boston looked like.
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